Week 4 of the NFL season is upon us. It’s crazy how long we wait from the NFL Draft, through minicamps and OTAs, then through training camp, only for the season to get off and running and fly by every year. After this week, nearly a quarter of the regular season will be in the books. But we can’t let that bring us down, as we have some money to be made from the NFL DFS main slate on DraftKings and FanDuel.

Surprisingly, we have an 11-game main slate, and there are four teams favored by at least six points. There are some smash spots for some of the more expensive teams, but we also need to try and thread the needle with some low-owned squads as well in the value section. Let’s check out the latest NFL DFS Week 4 D/ST Coach!

NFL DFS Week 4 D/ST Coach for FanDuel & DraftKings Fantasy

What a week it was for the NFL DFS Week 3 main slate! D/ST’s everywhere were popping off the board. In total, there were NINE D/ST touchdowns last week, and there seemed to be an epidemic of kickers getting their field goal attempts blocked.

We were fortunate enough to have the Seahawks (16 points) and Colts (15 points) listed in the top section of last week’s D/ST Coach. Even among our favorite value options last week, the Browns delivered 13 points for our NFL DFS lineups, and the Jets also returned 9 points at the minimum $2,200 price tag.

Now, a week like that would normally be considered a great week for the NFL DFS D/ST Coach. Unfortunately, I had no exposure to the Minnesota Vikings D/ST, which scored twice and put up an absurd 30 fantasy points. For as good as the Seahawks and Colts were, the Vikings easily broke the slate. And the Atlanta Falcons were a bad read as a mid-range play. The pass rush was there, but they just couldn’t keep the Carolina Panthers out of the end zone. But we now turn our attention to new opportunities as we look to dominate this week’s slate. Here is the NFL DFS Week 4 D/ST Coach!
 

 

 

NFL Week 4 Defense/Special Teams

It’s a shame we can’t get the Minnesota Vikings on the main slate, but unfortunately, that defense and all their heavy blitz packages will be playing Sunday morning in the Ireland game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

But we have 11 games to choose from, with seven in the early window and four in the afternoon window. That afternoon window is going to be fun when it comes to finding stacks, mini-stacks, or just some one-off plays. As far as the D/ST’s go for that slate, I’m struggling to find one to play. All four of those games currently have an implied total of at least 47.5 points, and no team is favored by more than four points as of Thursday afternoon.

So we’re likely looking at the early window when choosing this week’s team for our cash and GPP lineups. Let’s check out the latest NFL DFS Week 4 D/ST Coach!

NFL DFS D/ST Top Tier Picks for Week 4

Buffalo Bills – DraftKings: $3,700 | FanDuel: $5,000

The Buffalo Bills are the biggest favorites on the NFL DFS Week 4 main slate. As of Thursday morning, this game has an implied total of 47.5 points, which is high, but the Bills are 15.5-point favorites at home. They have the highest implied team total on the slate, while the Saints are among the lowest.

The Saints' offense has largely been tough to watch in Kellen Moore’s first season as head coach. But a large majority of their production has come in garbage time. The Saints have yet to score points in the first quarter of any game this year. They’ve scored 47 total points, and they’re only touchdown in Week 3 against Seattle came with seven seconds left in the game to cut the deficit to 31 points.

The Bills' defense just recently allowed a total of 31 points to the New York Jets and Miami Dolphins. Seven of those points came on a late garbage-time touchdown to the Jets with less than three minutes to go. The Saints don’t do anything spectacular, and Spencer Rattler has yet to win a game in the NFL. The Buffalo Bills will be circling the wagons on Sunday afternoon.

Detroit Lions – DraftKings: $3,500 | FanDuel: $4,900

The one reservation I have with Detroit is that they just played on Monday Night Football in a barn burner against the Baltimore Ravens. It’s a short week for this team, so I lack the conviction to put them in the Play of the Week section.

The Lions have started the season with some tough matchups, but they have 11 sacks in their last two games, and seven of those surprisingly came against the Ravens and Lamar Jackson. 

The Lions are 10-point favorites at home. Most weeks would qualify as the biggest favorite on the main slate. But the Bills are such massive favorites against the Saints that the Lions get bumped down to number two.

The Browns have played 12 quarters of football so far, and they’ve been held scoreless in SIX of them. Joe Flacco has been sacked six times in three games while being responsible for five turnovers. Tread carefully here because of the short week for Detroit, but matchups don’t get much better than this.

 

 


 

NFL DFS D/ST Mid-Tier Pick for Week 4

Los Angeles Chargers – DraftKings: $3,300 | FanDuel: $4,000

The Chargers are the fourth-most expensive D/ST on DraftKings, but $3,300 is still within the mid-range on DK. The Bolts are surprisingly the 10th-most expensive D/ST on FanDuel, so we’re looking at good value over there.

The New York Giants' offense is a mess, so they’re making a change at quarterback. It’s a tough matchup for Jaxson Dart in his debut. I do love the Chargers D/ST as they rank third in defensive EPA/DB coming into this matchup, and they utilize their heavy zone overages incredibly well.

This is an odd scheduling glitch for L.A., though. This game kicks off in the early window on Sunday, and this is a West Coast team traveling East. If you believe in that narrative, then you may want to avoid this recommendation. But I usually give a little extra weight to defenses playing rookie quarterbacks, so I think we can still go to this team in tournaments, but not for cash games. As of Thursday afternoon, the Chargers were favored by six points, and the Giants have an implied team total of 18.75 points.

NFL Week 4 DFS D/ST Value Picks

Carolina Panthers – DraftKings: $2,500 | FanDuel: $3,200

The Panthers are certainly a contrarian option. I don’t know how much I’ll play this D/ST, but I think an argument could be made as a “flavor of the week” kind of pick after what they did to the Atlanta Falcons last week.

The Panthers currently rank fourth in defensive EPA/DB, but their score is largely weighted off last week’s shutout of the Falcons. They only have one sack on the year, but they’ve notched five takeaways.

But they do go on the road against the New England Patriots. I’m a Patriots fan, and it’s been frustrating to see how inconsistent this team has been. Drake Maye has made some bonehead moves, and this offense had five turnovers last week against the Pittsburgh Steelers. And while the Panthers aren’t generating much pressure, the Patriots' offensive line is beatable. Drake Maye has already been sacked a dozen times in three games, so this is a D/ST going on the road that could surprise. We should at least entertain the possibility of this D/ST for tournaments.

Tennessee Titans – DraftKings: $2,300 | FanDuel: $3,500

We’re going with three value options for this week’s slate because variety is the spice of life. The Tennessee Titans, who go on the road to face the Houston Texans, which should give us some pause, but there’s potential for Tennessee here.

This game has the lowest total on the main slate at 38.5 points, and the Texans are favored by seven points, but even as a favorite, the Texans have an implied team total of just 22.5 points. C.J. Stroud has not been very good this season. He’s completing just 64% of his pass attempts for roughly 200 yards per game, and he has just two touchdowns to three interceptions.

Perhaps the most mind-blowing stat regarding how bad this offense is? The Texans have made the fewest red zone trips of any team through four weeks. They’ve made four trips inside their opponent’s 20-yard line, and they don’t have a single red zone touchdown yet.

Now I do need to issue the warning that the Titans' defense has allowed 68 points in their last two games to the Colts and Rams, so this is not a cash game lock but rather a good way to get different in tournaments.

Cleveland Browns – DraftKings: $2,200 | FanDuel: $3,000

The Browns are priced exactly where they were a week ago, and despite another tough matchup, I’m fine going right back to the well in this spot. They are dirt cheap and open up salary to help you allocate funds elsewhere.

The Browns shocked the NFL and fans everywhere last week with their late-game heroics to steal a win against the Green Bay Packers. This defense collected five sacks, an interception, and a blocked field goal while allowing 10 points to be scored. That was good enough for a 13-point return for our DFS lineups.

I can’t predict the same result as last week. With the way the Detroit Lions have looked over the last two weeks, they seem poised to light up the scoreboard in this matchup. But we can at least lean into the narrative that Detroit is playing on a short week and no quarterback (Jordan Love, Lamar Jackson, or Joe Burrow) has thrown for 200 yards yet on this Browns defense. And to that point, no offense has posted 250+ total yards. It won’t be pretty, but there’s a path for the Browns to maybe return eight fantasy points for us on Sunday. Punt at your own risk!
 

 

 

NFL DFS D/ST Fade for Week 4

Indianapolis Colts – DraftKings: $2,600 | FanDuel: $4,700

The Colts appeared in last week’s D/ST Coach, and they rewarded us handsomely with 15 fantasy points. Unfortunately, I don’t share the same optimism for them as I did one week ago. The Colts go on the road to face the Los Angeles Rams, who have a 26.5-point implied team total in this matchup.

The Rams have made the fourth-most red zone trips so far through three weeks, and they utilize play-action on 39.6% of their offensive plays, which is the most in the NFL. Not to mention, they are coming off a pretty tough loss to the Philadelphia Eagles last week. The usual offensive stars on the Rams (Puka Nacua, Kyren Williams, and Davante Adams) are all excelling and doing well, and I expect them to continue doing so in this matchup.

The price tag on FanDuel is very tough to justify, but even if you’re considering using them on DraftKings as a paydown option, this is a spot I’d prefer to avoid.

NFL DFS Week 4 D/ST Play of the Week

Houston Texans - DraftKings: $3,400 | FanDuel: $4,400

The Texans are home favorites by seven points in the game with the lowest implied total on the main slate at 38.5 points. The Tennessee Titans also have the lowest implied total for this game.

They welcome Cam Ward to Houston in this matchup, and Tennessee’s top pick from the 2025 NFL Draft is a bit beat up with an ankle injury. He’s listed as questionable, but I expect him to play. Ward has already been sacked 15 times through three games, and he’s turned it over in every single contest as well.

Even if they want to take the ball out of Ward’s hands, they haven’t been running the ball well either. Tony Pollard is seeing great volume, but he isn’t doing much with it. The Texans' defense is allowing just 17 points per game to opposing offenses, and they have the perfect pairing of two elite pass rushers and a shutdown defensive back. Cam Ward could be running for his life Sunday afternoon.